Buffalo man pleads guilty to helping launder $1 million in drug money

A Buffalo man admitted in federal court that he helped launder money for a drug trafficking organization.

Bryant Hudson was accused of participating in a drug trafficking organization that had ties to a Mexican drug cartel operating out of the Los Angeles area. The organization shipped drug packages to various states including New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Colorado.

Hudson assisted in depositing of drug proceeds from the operation into accounts at various Bank of America branches in the Buffalo area in order to avoid detection while moving the funds from Buffalo to California, according to Assistant U.S. Attorny Michael J. Adler, who is handling the case. The money was deposited in amounts just under $10,000, a practice known as structuring. Deposits of $10,000 or more require the bank to report the transaction.

Local deposits totaled over $1 million and involved at least 120 transactions, federal authorities said.

There also were deposits in bank branches across the country that were made by other defendants. More than $10 million was deposited in this fashion.

Hudson faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine when he is sentenced July 11 on his conviction of structuring transactions.

Hudson's is the first conviction in this case. Charges are pending against five others charged in the indictment, according to federal authorities.

Harold McNeil – Harold McNeil is a native of Brooklyn. He previously worked as a reporter for the former WEBR 970 AM public radio station and later for the Niagara Gazette, a Gannett-owned newspaper. He has been a staff reporter for The Buffalo News since 1989.